Gear City

Overview

Gear City is the most advanced industrial city in the Phantom World, home to the houses of artificers, foremost among them the Ying clan. It is a city steeped in steampunk: vast gears, pipes and smokestacks cover the whole of it, and mechanism men and mechanical devices are everywhere you look.

Gear City may not be a traditional Wulin city, but its advanced mechanical arts and engineering give it an important place in the Phantom World. The mechanism men and weapons it makes are used widely by every major faction.

Location

Gear City sits in the central plains of the Phantom World, well connected and a hub joining east, west, north and south. The ground inside it is flat, which suits large factories and great machines.

It stands well away from the traditional centres of the Wulin and answers to no orthodox house — it is a city of technology and industry.

The City

Gear City is an industrial city steeped in steampunk, quite unlike a traditional Chinese city.

• Vast gears and pipes run everywhere, and together they make a cityscape like nothing else
• Tall smokestacks pour out black smoke, and the factories never stop working, day or night
• Mechanism men and mechanical devices fill the streets, standing in for human labour
• Its buildings are mostly iron and stone — solid, hard-wearing, and full of industrial beauty
• By night Gear City is lit from end to end, and the clatter of machinery runs till dawn

The Ying Family Residence

The home of the Ying clan and the seat of power in Gear City. The Ying are the most powerful house of artificers in the city, and they hold its core technology and resources.

The Mechanism Factory

The largest factory in Gear City, where the mechanism men and mechanical devices are made. Inside it vast gears and assembly lines turn day and night; it is the heart of Gear City’s industry.

Mechanism Square

The central square of Gear City, where giant mechanical statues and mechanism devices stand. It is the city’s landmark.

The Technical Academy

The academy where Gear City trains its artificers, teaching mechanical arts and engineering. It keeps a great collection of mechanical-arts manuals and design drawings.

Mechanical Arts

Mechanical arts are the core technology of Gear City: gears, levers, springs and other mechanisms are worked into mechanism men and mechanical devices of every kind. The highest reach of the craft is a giant mechanism man that can act on its own.

Applications

• Mechanism men: mechanical warriors that act on their own, the main fighting strength of Gear City
• Mechanical weapons: precision-engineered weapons of great power
• Transport: mechanical carriages, flying craft and the like
• Industry: mechanical devices of every kind, to raise output

Key Figures

• The Ying clan: the most powerful house of artificers in Gear City
• The head of the Ying clan: a master artificer who holds the city’s core technology

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